G N 

366 



1 




ANTHROPOLOGY 



BY 



FRANZ BUAS 

PBOlKSSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



THE COLUMBIA UNIVEKS1 " PRESS 
1908 




Class Qj¥?tf 

Book_ (f3d6 



1 



ANTHROPOLOGY 



A LECTURE DELIVERED AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

IN THE SERIES ON SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND ART 

DECEMBER 18, 1907 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/anthropologyalecOOboas 




ANTHROPOLOGY 



BY 



FRANZ BOAS 

PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY 
COLUMBIA UNIVT.RSITY 



THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
1908 



j LIBRARY of O0N6K3SJ! 
| Two 'Jop.ies KecQivdii ; 

j FEB YQ 5 908 

Joaa J! I1C%\ 
5U4SS 4- XXc. sVu, I 

/ <j n q & sr 

■COPY S. 



r f 



^^ 



Copyright, 1908, 
By THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



Set up, and published February, 1908. 



L 



ANTHROPOLOGY 



In attempting to set forth briefly the principal results 
of anthropological research, I find my task beset with many 
difficulties. If the clear enunciation of the aims and 
methods of physical or biological science is not an easy 
matter, difficulties many times greater are encountered in an 
attempt to explain the present position of investigation deal- 
ing with mankind from the biological, geographical, and 
psychological points of view, — subjects that seem to lack 
in unity, and that present a number of most divergent 
aspects. Owing to the apparent heterogeneity of method, 
it seems necessary to explain the aims that unify the many 
lines of anthropological research. I can then proceed to 
describe what little has been attained, and how we hope to 
make further progress. 

We do not discuss the anatomical, physiological, and 
mental characteristics of man considered as an individual ; 
but we are interested in the diversity of these traits in 
groups of men found in different geographical areas and 
in different social classes. It is our task to inquire into the 
causes that have brought about the observed differentiation, 
and to investigate the sequence of events that have led to 
the establishment of the multifarious forms of human life. 
In other words, we are interested in anatomical and mental 
characteristics in so far as they are peculiar to groups of 
men living under the same biological, geographical, and 
social environment, and as determined by their past. Thus 
we are concerned with the effects of the climate and prod- 

5 



ucts of a country upon human life, with the influence of 
heat and of cold upon the bodily frame, with modifications 
in the life of communities brought about by geographical 
isolation, and with those due to the sufficiency or insuf- 
ficiency of food-supply. No less interesting to us are the 
phenomena of dependence of human life upon those social 
conditions that find expression in the customary mode of 
nutrition and occupation ; in the effects of contact between 
neighboring groups of people; in modifications brought 
about by migrations ; and in the forms of life as influenced 
by the density of population. To understand these modifi- 
cations, we require a knowledge of individual anatomy, 
physiology, and psychology, because the establishment of a 
characteristic social group can be brought about only by a 
parallel development which occurs in all the individuals 
exposed to similar influences. 

Thus it appears that the genesis of the types of man, 
considered from an anatomical, physiological, and psycho- 
logical point of view, is the chief object of anthropological 
research. When our problem is formulated in this man- 
ner, we recognize at once that a separation of anthropo- 
logical methods from the methods of biology and psy- 
chology is impossible, and that certain problems of anthro- 
pology can be approached only from the point of view of 
these sciences. It might perhaps even be said that the in- 
vestigation of the types of man is a purely biological 
problem, and that the only questions involved are such as 
can be treated by the application of those biological meth- 
ods which are gradually clearing up the genesis of the 
types of animals and plants. A similar claim may be made 
in regard to the psychological problems. If there are any 
laws determining the growth and development of the 
human mind, they can be only laws that act in the indi- 
vidual, and consequently they must be determined by the 
application of individual psychology. 

6 



Thus an examination of our problems suggests that the 
whole group of anthropological phenomena may be evanes- 
cent, that they may be at bottom biological and psycho- 
logical problems, and that the whole field of anthropology 
belongs either to the one or to the other of these sciences. 

Nevertheless, anthropological phenomena possess a very 
genuine interest and unity. This is largely due to the fact 
that everything that concerns our own species is of special 
interest to us. The feeling of solidarity of mankind, but 
more particularly of the individual with his people and 
with the class of society to which he belongs, which finds in 
our day its strongest expression in the strife of the nations, 
has brought it about that the minute differences between 
the physical organization of different races, types, and 
social groups, have arrested attention much more vigor- 
ously than similar differences in the rest of the animal 
kingdom have done ; and points of view have early become 
important that until recent times have received little atten- 
tion on the part of biologists, or that have not yet claimed 
their attention. The distribution of distinct psychological 
types in man has proved an even more fascinating study, 
the investigation of which has led to problems that the in- 
ductive psychology of modern times is not yet ready to 
attack. 

This centralization of interest in the manifestations of 
life in social units has determined the course of develop- 
ment of anthropology. 

Anthropological research leads us to two fundamental 
questions: Why are the tribes and nations of the world 
different, and how have the present differences developed ? 
The first question, if it can be solved adequately, will 
always lead us to biological and psychological laws that act 
on man as an individual, in which we see the single event 
mirrored in one broad generalization. But even if we 

7 



should have succeeded in reducing to a series of laws the 
multiplicity of events which manifest themselves in the 
development of new types and in the growth of new mental 
activities, a strong interest will remain in the actual devel- 
opments which have occurred among the various peoples of 
the world. 

This is true not only of anthropology, but also of biology 
and genetic psychology, and of other sciences describing 
the sequence of events in the universe; and the intense 
modern interest in evolution expresses the recognition of 
the importance of what might be called the historical view- 
point. 

In this sense, anthropology is the science that endeavors 
to reconstruct the early history of mankind, and that 
tries, wherever possible, to express in the form of laws 
ever-recurring modes of historical happenings. Since writ- 
ten history covers a brief span of time, and relates in frag- 
mentary records the fates of a few only of the multitude 
of peoples of the earth, the anthropologist must endeavor 
by methods of his own to clear up the darkness of past ages 
and of remote parts of the world. 

While, from this theoretical point of view, anthropology 
must devote itself to the investigation of human types and 
human activities and thought the world over, its actual 
field of work is much more restricted. Biology and psy- 
chology on the one hand, and history, economics, sociology, 
and philology on the other, have taken up anthropological 
problems, each from its own point of view, and each in 
connection with its own subject of investigation. As a 
matter of fact, the field of work as theoretically outlined 
would require such a vast variety of training, that no 
single person could possibly hope to master it. The special 
task that is actually assigned at the present time to the 
anthropologist is the investigation of the primitive tribes 
of the world that have no written history, that of pre- 

8 



historic remains and of the types of man inhabiting the 
world at present and in past times. It will be recognized 
that this limitation of the field of work of the anthro- 
pologist is more or less accidental, and originated because 
other sciences occupied part of the ground before the de- 
velopment of modern anthropology. 

It implies, however, also a point of view fundamentally 
distinct from that of history in the narrow sense of the 
term. In history we are, on the whole, concerned with 
events only that have had an influence upon the develop- 
ment of our own civilization; in anthropology the life of 
every people of the world is equally important. There- 
fore, in a wider sense, it is impossible to exclude any part 
of mankind from the considerations of anthropology. The 
results of studies carried on by the historian and by the 
sinologist must not be neglected by the anthropologist in 
his endeavors to investigate the history of mankind and 
its controlling forces. It will thus be seen that anthro- 
pology differs from history, and resembles the natural 
sciences in its endeavor to disregard the subjective values 
of historical happenings ; that it tries to consider them ob- 
jectively, simply as a sequence of events, regardless of 
their influence upon the course of our own civilization. 

In the vastness of the outlook over the unwritten history 
of past ages, the individual is merged entirely in the social 
unit of which he forms a part, and we see in the dim dis- 
tance of time and space only the movements of peoples, the 
emergence of new types of man, the gradual development 
of new forms of civilization, and a constant repetition of 
processes of integration and disintegration of peoples and 
cultures. Prehistoric remains, characteristics of bodily 
form, traits of language, industrial and economic achieve- 
ments, peculiar customs and beliefs, are the only evidence 
that we can use, — evidence that was little regarded by 
history until the anthropological standpoint began to de- 

9 



velop. Thus it happens that although the anthropologist 
may not be able, owing to the specialization of the methods 
of inquiry, to investigate problems like those dealing with 
the modern history of Europe and China, the historian and 
the sinologist will be able to view their problems from an 
anthropological standpoint. With the increase of our 
knowledge of the peoples of the world, specialization must 
increase, and anthropology will become more and more a 
method that may be applied by a great number of sciences, 
rather than a science by itself. 

We shall next take up a consideration of the results of 
the biological and psychological researches carried on by 
anthropologists. It is somewhat remarkable that these 
two large branches of investigation have remained quite 
separate, and that the results of the one throw little light 
upon the problems of the other. Biological anthropology 
has concerned itself chiefly with the classification of races, 
their relations to their predecessors and ultimately to the 
higher animals; and little progress has been made in the 
clearing-up of the genealogical relations of distinct types. 
Diligent search has revealed a number of lower forms 
which lived during the early quaternary and the late ter- 
tiary periods that help a little in bridging the wide gap be- 
tween man and animal ; but we are still entirely in the dark 
regarding the origin of the fundamental races and of the 
types of man. Since observations in different geographical 
areas showed at an early time the differentiation of local 
types, which it was difficult to define in words, anthropology 
was the first of the biological sciences to have recourse to 
metrical methods; and the whole modern development of 
biometry takes its origin in the application of methods 
developed by anthropologists, and by means of which fine 
distinctions between closely related types can be discov- 
ered. Originally the metrical methods of anthropologists 

10 



were used for purely taxonomic ends, for the description 
of distinct types; and for years chief attention has been 
paid to the classification of the types of man according to 
their similarities, and to speculation on their relationships ; 
but, owing to the influence of Francis Galton and his suc- 
cessors, we are gradually outgrowing this condition, and 
we see that more and more problems relating to the influ- 
ence of social and geographical environment, of heredity, 
of race mixture and selection, are made the subject of 
study. This development has been closely associated with 
the growth of biometric methods applied to zoology and 
botany. 

One of the important facts that has been recognized by 
a study of the morphology of the races is that man must 
be considered as a domesticated animal, and that even those 
tribes which are industrially the most primitive are some- 
what removed from the anatomical conditions characteriz- 
ing the wild animals. It appears, however, that the degree 
of domestication has strongly increased with the growing 
complexity of industrial organization; and most of the 
races of the present day are anatomically in the same con- 
dition as those types of domesticated animals which are 
highly modified by regular feeding and by disuse of a 
considerable portion of the muscular system, without, how- 
ever, having been subjected to any considerable artificial 
selection. This seems to be one of the causes of the high 
degree of variability of the races of man. 

While it is not yet possible to express definite views in 
regard to the relationship of the races of man, a few facts 
stand out boldly. We recognize that the two extreme 
types of mankind are represented, on the one hand by the 
Negro race, on the other hand by the Mongoloid race. 
The former of these includes the races of Africa and many 
of those inhabiting the large islands surrounding Aus- 
tralia; the other includes the people of eastern Asia and 

11 



of America. The other strongly divergent types of man 
can most readily be classed with these two fundamental 
types, and may perhaps be considered as mutants which 
developed at an early period. Thus we find affiliated with 
the Negro race two divergent types, nevertheless appar- 
ently closely related to it, — the dwarfish South African, 
who is perhaps intimately related to the many isolated 
dwarfish tribes of other parts of Africa and southern Asia ; 
and the Australian. The Mongoloid type, on the other 
hand, has also a considerable number of affiliated types, 
which may perhaps represent mutants of this type. Here 
belong the Malay of southeastern Asia, the Ainu of north- 
ern Japan, and perhaps the European. If we base our 
conception of the division of mankind on this broad out- 
line, it would appear that two large divisions were estab- 
lished at an early geological period, — the race of the 
Indian Ocean, which represents all the Negroid types ; 
and the race of the Pacific Ocean, which represents the 
Mongoloid and affiliated types. The enormous increase in 
the number of Europeans during the last two or three 
thousand years, and their rapid spread over the surface of 
the globe, disturb the clearness of this view; but we must 
remember that the white race represented originally only 
a very small part of mankind, and occupied only a small 
portion of the inhabited world. 

What relation the two principal types may have had to 
the predecessor of mankind which is represented by the 
early quaternary race of Europe is unknown. 

The history of the spread of these large races over the 
continents remains also, to a great extent, obscure. It 
seems likely, however, that the race of the Pacific Ocean 
immigrated into America at a very early time, and that 
after the retreat of the ice-sheet it swept back into northern 
Asia and re-established itself in the whole northern part 
of the Old World, which had been uninhabited for long 

12 



periods. Much of this, however, remains hypothesis, 
which may be confirmed or disproved by further studies. 

While the divergence of the types of man suggests that 
the tendency to form mutants has been ever-present, it 
would seem that the varieties which have survived up to 
the present time have been exceedingly stable, within the 
limits of their characteristic ranges of variation. The hu- 
man remains found in Europe, which undoubtedly date 
back many thousands of years, and the remains of ancient 
Egypt, both of which may be compared with the types 
represented in the modern population of those countries, 
are much like the modern forms, and apparently no change 
of type has occurred in these districts for thousands of 
years. The same stability of race types manifests itself in 
cases of mixture. It would seem that among the human 
races there is a strong tendency for hybrids to revert to 
either parental type without forming an intermediate race. 
Thus we find that in western Asia the low-headed Semitic 
type and the high-headed Armenian type persist, although 
an intermingling of these people has been going on for 
thousands of years. 

Nevertheless an influence of environment must be recog- 
nized. It may be observed, for instance, in the develop- 
ment of the European after his immigration into America. 
It may be recognized in the minute but noticeable differ- 
ences of types in various parts of Europe and in different 
occupations, in the acceleration of growth of children of 
well-to-do classes, and in the stunting and retarding effect 
of mal-nutrition. Whether, however, these effects can be 
considered as permanent, is a question that is still entirely 
open. 

Our investigations of the permanence and relationships 
of human types have also shown that it is exceedingly 
difficult, if not impossible, to find what might be called a 
pure type, and the endeavors to find pure races through a 

13 



mixture of which the present variable types may have 
originated must be given up. We have recognized that 
the transitions between types are so gradual, and in so 
many different directions, that the establishment of any 
one of the series as a primary type would be quite arbi- 
trary. All the nations of modern times, and those of Eu- 
rope not less than those of other continents, are equally 
mixed; and the racial purity on which European nations 
like to pride themselves does not exist. 

In still other directions have the investigations of an- 
thropology rudely shattered some of our cherished illu- 
sions. It has been tacitly assumed and loudly proclaimed 
that one of the effects of advance in civilization has been 
the improvement of the physical organization of the hu- 
man body, and particularly of the central nervous system. 
At the present time we are not so apt to accept this assump- 
tion as proved. No progressive development of the 
nervous system in regard to complexity of connections or 
in regard to size has so far been proved. A critical exam- 
ination of the facts leaves the desire to feel ourselves as 
superiors to our fellow-beings as almost the sole support 
of this contention. The question involved is, of course, a 
very important one, and forms an aspect of the general 
question of the transmission of acquired characters; but 
our present attitude can only be one for a demand for 
further investigation. 

A word should also be said about the question of the dif- 
ference of mental ability in different races. Here also the 
evidence given by anthropology does not sustain the claim 
of superiority of any race over the others. All the argu- 
ments that have been brought forward to prove the su- 
periority of the white race over all others can readily be 
explained by other anthropological considerations. There 
are differences in form and size of the brains of different 
races, but the variability within each race is so great that 

14 



the small average differences between distinct racial types 
are almost insignificant as compared to the total range of 
racial variability; and if we base our inferences entirely 
on the results of anatomical study, it would seem that 
there is no reason to believe that the bulk of the people 
constituting two distinct races might not be approximately 
on the same level. Nevertheless it seems reasonable to 
assume that the differences in form of the body must be 
accompanied by differences in function, and we may sup- 
pose that there may be certain peculiarities in the general 
mental tendencies of each race, only we must guard 
against the inference that divergence from the European 
type is synonymous with inferiority. 

The history of development of the mental side of anthro- 
pology has been quite different from the growth of physical 
anthropology. While in the latter branch of our science 
the differences between human types were the first to at- 
tract attention, it was the similarity in cultural types 
found in remote regions which first impressed itself upon 
ethnologists. A comparison of the descriptions of the cus- 
toms of primitive peoples the world over brought out 
analogies in ever-increasing number. These were early cor- 
related with general impressions regarding the degrees of 
civilization; and thus it happened that one of the most 
difficult and complex problems of ethnology— namely, the 
question of the general typical evolution of the history of 
civilization of mankind — was the first to receive attention. 
I cannot pass this subject by without mentioning the deep 
impression made by men like Tylor and Bachofen, Mor- 
gan and Spencer, who were among the first to present the 
data of anthropology as illustrating the history of civili- 
zation. 

The development of this side of anthropology was 
stimulated by the work of Darwin and his successors, and 

15 



its fundamental ideas can be understood only as an appli- 
cation of the theory of biological evolution to mental phe- 
nomena. The conception that the manifestations of ethnic 
life represent a series, which from simple beginnings has 
progressed to the complex type of modern civilization, has 
been the underlying thought of this aspect of anthro- 
pological science. 

The arguments in support of the theory that the de- 
velopment of civilization has followed a similar course 
everywhere, and that among primitive tribes we may still 
recognize the stages through which our own civilization 
has passed, are largely based on the similarities of types 
of culture found in distinct races the world over, but also 
on the occurrence of peculiar customs in our own civiliza- 
tion, which can be understood only as survivals of older 
customs, that had a deeper significance at an earlier time, 
and which are still found in full vigor among primitive 
people. 

It is necessary to point out at least a few of the aspects 
of this general problem, in order to make clear the signifi- 
cance of the evolutionary theory of human civilization. 

The social organization of primitive tribes shows similar 
traits in many different parts of the world. Instead of 
counting descent in the way we do, many tribes consider 
the child as a member only of its mother's family, and 
count blood-relationship only in the maternal line ; so that 
cousins on the mother's side are considered as near rela- 
tives, while cousins on the father's side are considered as 
only distantly related. Other tribes have a strict paternal 
organization, so that the child belongs only to the father's 
family, not to the mother's, while still others follow the 
same principles that we adhere to, reckoning relationships 
in both directions. Connected with these customs is the 
selection of the domicile of the newly married couple, who 
sometimes reside with the wife's tribe or family, sometimes 

16 



with the man's tribe or family. When the couple take up 
their residence with the social group to which the wife 
belongs, it is often found that the man is treated as a 
stranger until his first child is born. These phenomena 
have been made the subject of thorough studies, and the 
observation has been made that apparently the customs of 
residence and of descent are closely associated. As a 
result of these inquiries the conclusion has been drawn that 
everywhere maternal institutions precede paternal institu- 
tions, and that the social organization of mankind was 
such that originally perhaps no distinct family organiza- 
tion existed ; that later on maternal institutions developed, 
which in turn were followed by paternal institutions, and 
again by the system of counting blood-relationship equally 
in maternal and paternal lines. 

Similar results were obtained by the study of human 
inventions. It has been observed that apes and monkeys 
sometimes use stones for defence, and in a way the 
artificial shelters of animals indicate the beginnings of 
invention. In this sense we may seek for the origin of 
implements and utensils among animals. In the earliest 
times when human remains appear on the surface of the 
earth, we find man using simple stone implements which 
are formed by rough chipping, but the multiplicity of 
forms of implements increases quite rapidly. Since many 
implements may have been made of perishable materials, 
we are not able to tell whether at a very early time the 
implements and utensils used were really confined to the 
few stone objects that may now be recovered; but certainly 
the implements were few, and, comparatively speaking, 
simple. From this time on, the uses of fire, and of tools for 
cutting and striking, for scraping and perforating, have 
increased in number and complexity, and a gradual de- 
velopment may be traced from the simple tools of primitive 
man to the complex machinery of our times. The inventive 

17 



genius of all races and of unnumbered individuals has con- 
tributed to the state of industrial perfection in which we 
find ourselves. On the whole, inventions, once made, have 
been kept with great tenacity, and, owing to incessant 
additions, the available resources of mankind have con- 
stantly been increased and multiplied. 

Researches on art have led to similar results. Investi- 
gators have endeavored to show, that, since the cave- 
dwellers of France drew the outlines of the reindeer and 
mammoth on bone and antler, man has tried to reproduce 
in pictographic design the animals of the region in which 
he lived. In the artistic productions of many people, de- 
signs have been found which are readily associated with 
pictographic presentations, which, however, have lost their 
realism of form, and have become more and more conven- 
tional; so that in many cases a purely decorative motive 
has been interpreted as developed from a realistic picto- 
graph, gradually breaking up under the stress of esthetic 
motives. The islands of the Pacific Ocean, New Guinea, 
South America, Central America, prehistoric Europe, 
have furnished examples for this line of development, 
which therefore was recognized as one of the important 
tendencies of the evolution of human decorative art, which 
was described as beginning with realism, and as leading 
through symbolic conventionalism to purely esthetic mo- 
tives. 

Religion has furnished another example of typical evo- 
lution in human thought. At an early time man began to 
think and ponder about the phenomena of nature. Every- 
thing appeared to him in an anthropomorphic form of 
thought; and thus the first primitive concepts regarding 
the world came into being, in which the stone, the moun- 
tain, the heavenly orbs, were viewed as animate anthro- 
pomorphic beings endowed with will-power, and willing to 
help man or threatening to endanger him. The observa- 

18 



tion of the activities of man's own body and of his mind 
led to the formulation of the idea of a soul independent 
from the body; and with increasing knowledge and with 
increasing philosophic thought, religion and science grew 
out of these simple beginnings. v 

The sameness of all these phenomena in different parts 
of the world has been considered as proof not only of the 
fundamental unity of the mind of all the races of man, but 
also of the truth of the theory of evolution of civilization; 
and thus a grand structure has been reared, in which we 
see our present civilization as the necessary outcome of the 
activities of all the races of man, that have risen in one 
grand procession, from the simplest beginnings of culture, 
through periods of barbarism, to the stage of civilization 
that they now occupy. The march has not been equally 
rapid ; for some are still lagging behind, while others have 
forged forward, and occupy the first places in the general 
advance. 

While this evolutionary aspect has occupied the centre 
of attention for a long time, another view of the field of 
the phenomena of ethnology was defended by Bastian, — 
a view which makes its influence felt ever more deeply as 
times goes on. The sameness of the forms of thought 
found in regions wide apart appeared to Bastian as a 
proof of the unity of the human mind, but it also sug- 
gested to him that the forms of thought follow certain 
definite types, no matter in what surroundings man may 
live, and what may be his social and historical relations. 
In the varieties of thought found among peoples of distant 
areas he saw the influence of geographical and social 
environment upon these fundamental forms of thought, 
which were called by him elementary ideas. Bastian's 
theory of the permanence of forms of thought is related 
to Dilthey's conception of the limitation of possible types 
of philosophy ; and the similarity of the line of thoughts of 

19 



these two men appears also clearly in Bastian's constant 
references to the theories of philosophers as compared to 
the views held by primitive man. From Bastian's view- 
point the question of a single or multiple type of evolution 
of civilization appeared irrelevant. The important phe- 
nomenon in his mind was the fundamental sameness of 
forms of human thought in all forms of culture, no matter 
whether they were advanced or primitive. 

In the views as propounded by him, a certain kind of 
mysticism may be recognized, in so far as the elementary 
ideas are to his mind intangible entities. No further 
thought can possibly unravel their origin, because we our- 
selves are compelled to think in the forms of these elemen- 
tary ideas. 

In a way the evolutionists and Bastian represent thus, 
the former the historical point of view, the latter a psycho- 
logical point of view, in the field of ethnology. More 
recent discussions have taken up both threads of investiga- 
tion, and both views are slowly undergoing a number of 
radical changes. 

With increasing knowledge of the data of anthropology, 
the forms of society, of religion, of art, and the develop- 
ment of invention, do not seem quite so simple as they 
appeared to earlier investigators. Attempts were made 
to fit the hypothetical typical evolution of mankind to 
the historical development of culture in different parts 
of the world, so far as it had been reconstructed. 
Thus an opportunity was given to examine the cor- 
rectness of the accepted theory. As soon as this was 
done, peculiar difficulties developed, which showed that 
the theory was hardly ever applicable to specific cases, 
and that the actual development, as it was traced by his- 
torical reconstruction, differed considerably from the theory. 
From this investigation has developed an entirely new 
view regarding the relation of different races. We begin 

20 



to recognize that in prehistoric times transmission of cul- 
tural elements has been almost unlimited, and that the 
distances over which inventions and ideas have been carried 
cover whole continents. As an instance of the rapidity 
with which cultural achievements are transmitted, may be 
mentioned the modern history of some cultivated plants. 
Tobacco was introduced into Africa after the discovery of 
America, and it took little time for this plant to spread 
over the whole continent; so that at the present time it 
enters so deeply into the whole culture of the Negro that 
nobody would suspect its foreign origin. We find in the 
same way that the banana has pervaded almost the whole 
of South America; and the history of Indian-corn is an- 
other example of the incredible rapidity with which a use- 
ful cultural acquisition may spread over the whole world. 
The history of the horse, of cattle, of the European grains, 
illustrates that similar conditions prevailed in prehistoric 
times. These animals and plants occur over the whole 
width of the Old World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the 
shores of the Pacific. The use of milk was probably dis- 
seminated in a similar way at an early time ; so that when 
the people of the world enter into our historic knowledge, 
we find milk used all over Europe, Africa, and the western 
part of Asia. 

Perhaps the best proof of transmission is contained in 
the folk-lore of the tribes of the world. Nothing seems to 
travel as readily as fanciful tales. We know of certain 
complex tales, which cannot possibly have been invented 
twice, that are told by the Berber in Morocco, by the Ital- 
ians, the Irish, the Russians, in the jungles of India, in the 
highlands of Tibet, on the tundras of Siberia, and on the 
prairies of North America; so that perhaps the only parts 
of the world not reached by them are South Africa, Aus- 
tralia, Polynesia, and South America. The examples of 
such transmission are quite numerous, and we begin to see 

21 



that the early inter-relation of the races of man was almost 
worldwide. 

It follows from this observation that the culture of any 
given tribe, no matter how primitive it may be, can be 
fully explained only when we take into consideration its 
inner growth as well as its relation to the culture of its 
near and distant neighbors and the effect that they may 
have exerted. 

The sameness of a number of fundamental ideas and 
inventions has suggested to some investigators the belief 
that there are old cultural achievements belonging to a 
period previous to the general dispersion of the human 
race, — a theory that has some points in its favor, though 
its correctness cannot be proved. 

An important theoretical consideration has also shaken 
our faith in the correctness of the evolutionary theory as 
a whole. It is one of the essential traits of this theory that, 
in general, civilization has developed from simple forms to 
complex forms, and that extended fields of human culture 
have developed under more or less rationalistic impulses. 
Of late years we are beginning to recognize that human 
culture does not always develop from the simple to the 
complex, but that in many aspects two tendencies inter- 
cross, — one from the complex to the simple, the other from 
the simple to the complex. It is obvious that the history of 
industrial development is almost throughout that of in- 
creasing complexity. On the other hand, human activities 
that do not depend upon reasoning do not show a similar 
type of evolution. 

It is perhaps easiest to make this clear by the example of 
language, which in many respects is one of the most im- 
portant evidences of the history of human development. 
Primitive languages are, on the whole, complex. Minute 
differences in point of view are given expression by means 
of grammatical forms; and the grammatical categories of 
LOFC. 22 



Latin, and still more so those of modern English, seem 
crude when compared to the complexity of psychological 
or logical forms which primitive languages recognize, but 
which in our speech are disregarded entirely. On the whole, 
the development of languages seems to be such that the 
nicer distinctions are eliminated, and that it begins with 
complex and ends with simpler forms, although it must 
be acknowledged that opposite tendencies are not by any 
means absent. 

Similar observations may be made on the art of primitive 
man. In music as well as in decorative design we find a 
complexity of rhythmic structure which is unequalled in 
the popular art of our day. In music, particularly, this 
complexity is so great that the art of a skilled virtuoso is 
taxed in the attempt to imitate it. If once it is recognized 
that simplicity is not always a proof of antiquity, it will 
readily be seen that the theory of the evolution of civiliza- 
tion rests to a certain extent on a logical error. The classi- 
fication of the data of anthropology in accordance with their 
simplicity has been re-interpreted as an historical sequence, 
without an adequate attempt to prove that the simpler 
antedated the more complex. 

Notwithstanding this serious criticism, much of the older 
theory seems plausible; but presumably a thorough re- 
vision and a more individualized aspect of the development 
of civilization in different parts of the world will become 
necessary. 

The psychological aspect of anthropology, which was 
first emphasized by Bastian, is also undergoing rapid 
development, particularly in so far as the problem of the 
origin of elementary ideas is concerned, the investigation 
of which Bastian considered as impossible. Here, again, 
the study of language promises to point the way in which 
many of our problems may find their solution. I have 
stated before that the languages of primitive tribes are, 

23 



on the whole, complex, and differentiate nicely between 
categories of thought. It is very remarkable to find that 
these categories, which can be discovered only by an ana- 
lytical study of the languages, and which are unknown to 
the speakers of these languages, although they are con- 
stantly used, coincide with categories of thought which 
have been discovered by philosophers. It would be possi- 
ble to find in the languages of primitive people gram- 
matical forms corresponding to a variety of philosophical 
systems ; and in this we may perhaps recognize one of the 
most brilliant proofs of the correctness of Bastian's and 
Dilthey's theory of the existence of a limited number of 
types of thought. 

We infer from these linguistic facts that the categories 
of thought, and the forms of action, that we find among a 
people, do not need to have been developed by conscious 
thought, but that they have grown up owing to the funda- 
mental organization of the human mind. Linguistic 
evidence is of such great value, because grammatical cate- 
gories and forms have never risen into the consciousness 
of the speaker, while in almost all other ethnological 
phenomena people have come to observe what they think 
and what they do. With the moment that activities and 
thoughts rise into consciousness they become the subject 
of speculation ; and for this reason the peoples of the world, 
primitive as well as more advanced, are ever ready to give 
explanations of their customs and beliefs. The importance 
of the constant occurrence of such secondary explanations 
cannot be overrated. They are ever present. The inves- 
tigator who inquires into the history of institutions and of 
customs will always receive explanations based on such 
secondary interpretation, which, however, do not represent 
the history of the custom or belief in question, but only the 
results of speculation in regard to it. 

I will mention one other psychological point that seems 

24 



of special importance in the discussion of the significance 
of primitive culture and its relation to more advanced 
types. In primitive culture certain activities appear 
closely connected which in more advanced types of civili- 
zation have no longer any relation. Thus it is one of the 
fundamental traits of primitive culture that social organi- 
zation and religious belief are inextricably related. To a 
limited extent this tendency persists in our own civiliza- 
tion ; but, on the whole, there has been a marked tendency 
to separate social and political organization, and religion. 
The same is true of primitive art and religion; and of 
primitive science, social organization, and religion. So 
far as we are able to investigate the causes for the peculiar 
associations between these varied manifestations of ethnic 
life and the history of their gradual disappearance, we 
find that in the stream of consciousness of primitive man a 
sensory stimulus is very liable to release strong emotions, 
which are in turn connected with certain groups of ideas. 
Thus the emotions common to both establish associations 
between groups of ideas that to us appear entirely unre- 
lated. For the same reason it seems impossible for primi- 
tive man to establish those purely rationalistic associations 
between sense -impressions and acts determined by volition 
which are characteristic of civilized man. A study of 
primitive life shows that particularly every customary ac- 
tion attains a very strong emotional tone, which increases 
the stability of the custom. These forces are still acting in 
our own civilization. In order to make this clear, I only 
need to remind you of any of those actions which we call 
good manners, for which no satisfactory reason can be 
given; which nevertheless have acquired an emotional 
tone so strong that a breach of good manners is felt 
as a grave offence. It would, for instance, be impossible 
to give a reason why a gentleman should not be allowed to 
keep on his hat indoors, while it is good form for a lady 

25 



to do so; and the instantaneous judgment by which we 
characterize an offender against these rules as rude, and 
the discomfort felt when we unwittingly commit a breach 
of good manners, show how deep-seated their emotional 
values are. 

There is no doubt that the further pursuit of the psycho- 
logical investigation, which has hardly been begun, will 
help us to find a more satisfactory explanation of many 
anthropological phenomena than those that we have been 
able to give heretofore. 

You will perceive that anthropology is a science that is 
only beginning to find its own bearings, that many of the 
fundamental questions are still open to discussion, and 
that the promising lines of approach are just opening. 

Nevertheless, anthropology has been able to teach cer- 
tain facts that are of importance in our common every-day 
life. Owing to the breadth of its outlook, anthropology 
teaches better than any other science the relativity of the 
values of civilization. It enables us to free ourselves from 
the prejudices of our civilization, and to apply standards 
in measuring our achievements that have a greater abso- 
lute truth than those derived from a study of our civiliza- 
tion alone. The differences between our civilization and 
another type in which perhaps less stress is laid upon the 
rationalistic side of our mental activities and more upon 
the emotional side, or in which the outer manifestations of 
culture, as expressed in manner and dress, differ from 
ours, appear less as differences in value than as differences 
in hind. This broader outlook may also help us to recog- 
nize the possibility of lines of progress which do not 
happen to be in accord with the dominant ideas of our 
times. 

Anthropology may also teach a better understanding 
of our own activities. We pride ourselves on following 

26 



the dictates of reason and carrying out our carefully- 
weighed convictions. The fact which is taught by anthro- 
pology, — that man the world over believes that he follows 
the dictates of reason, no matter how unreasonably he may 
act, — and the knowledge of the existence of the tendency 
of the human mind to arrive at a conclusion first and to 
give the reasons afterwards, will help us to open our eyes ; 
so that we recognize that our philosophic views and our 
political convictions are to a great extent determined by 
our emotional inclinations, and that the reasons which we 
give are not the reasons by which we arrive at our conclu- 
sions, but the explanations which we give for our conclu- 
sions. 

An important lesson is also taught by the course the 
general development of society has taken. Primitive social 
units were small, and the members possessed a strong feel- 
ing of solidarity among themselves and of hostility against 
all aliens. The social units have been increasing in size 
through all ages. Greater individual freedom was allowed 
to the members of the groups, and the feeling of hostility 
against strangers weakened. We are still in the middle of 
this development; and the history of mankind shows that 
any policy- which oversteps the limits of necessary self- 
protection and seeks advancement of one nation by a 
policy disregarding the interests of others is bound to lose 
in the long-run, because it represents an older type of 
thought that is gradually disappearing. 

I cannot leave my subject without saying a word in re- 
gard to the help that anthropological methods may render 
in the investigation of problems of public hygiene, of race- 
mixture, and of eugenics. The safe methods of biologi- 
cal and psychological anthropometry and anthropology 
will help us to remove these questions from the sphere of 
heated political discussion and to make them subjects of 
calm scientific investigation. 

27 



I have tried to outline in this imperfect picture the 
methods, aims, and hopes of anthropology. The definite 
facts that I could lay before you are few, and even the 
ground-work of the science appears hardly laid. Still 
I hope that the view of our ultimate aims may have en- 
gendered the feeling that we are striving for a goal which 
is bound to enlighten mankind, and which will be helpful in 
gaining a right attitude in the solution of the problems of 
life. 




28 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS $ 



; 






'* fi * 1 




■ 




lA** 






Mi \l- 


$*,, &; ; 


• ■■:-.' 5:.' .itj 



029 726 860 







